The Minski Avtomobilniy Zavod MAZ-543 was an 8x8 cargo vehicle developed in the early 1960s, most famous for serving as a TEL for ballistic missile systems. Depending on the variant, it was between 10.81m and 11.657m long, 3m wide and 2.9m tall, and could haul loads between 19,100kg and 23,000kg. Between 1974 and 1980 Iraq acquired 10 MAZ-543/9P117 TELs and they saw intensive deployment during the war with Iran. All served with Brigade 224, and all were painted in a cardboard-sand colour overall. Some received hull-numbers and small Iraqi flags, as shown here. From 1988, they were used to fire al-Hussein missiles at Iran, nearly all from a site outside al-Fakkah, 300km south-east of Baghdad. R-17Es delivered to Iraq were originally painted in dark green overall, as standard for all Soviet military vehicles. In the early 1980s, the Iraqis started repainting them in various shades of yellow sand. (Artworks by David Bocquelet and Tom Cooper)